BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - U.S.-based Indian technology tycoons have come together to fund an Imax movie on the Taj Mahal, in which former Miss World Aishwarya Rai will play the queen who inspired the marble monument.
The large-screen movie to be shown in special theatres will involve a budget of up to $10 million and a host of big “Bollywood” names, director Ganapathy Bharat told Reuters on Monday.
“It is not just for India … it is going to be released all over the world,” Bharat said, adding he expected the project to be the biggest international movie venture out of India since “Gandhi”.
Richard Attenborough’s epic based on the life of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi won several Oscars nearly two decades ago.
Imax Corp, creates the illusion of depth and movement through its large-format film and theatres fitted with huge, curved screens. India’s first Imax movie theatre opened in Bombay last week.
Aishwarya Rai, after winning the Miss World pageant, ventured successfully as an actress in Bombay’s “Bollywood” cinema. With pale eyes, a shapely figure and graceful manners, Rai is considered to be hottest talent in India.
Bharat said she was an obvious choice because she would carry the idea of an Indian beauty with a global appeal in a movie on the 17th century marble mausoleum inspired by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s love for his favourite wife, Mumtaz.
The movie is expected to be released in July next year.
“This is an intense, passionate story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz,” said Bharat, who has written the story for the movie with his wife, Kanika.
The male lead to play Shah Jahan is still a secret, and the name is expected to be revealed later this month.
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Silicon Valley tycoons usually known to fund hot technology startups with venture capital have chipped in to form a company to back “Taj Mahal,” the movie.
Bharat said they include K.B. Chandrasekhar and B.V. Jagadeesh, co-founders of Internet infrastructure firm Exodus Communications Inc, Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, chairman of optical networking firm Sycamore Networks , and Kanwal Rekhi, former chief technology officer of Novell Inc.
These and other technology millionaires from the Silicon Valley have joined to form a company called India Lotus Inc to fund the movie.
“Pre-production work is in full swing,” Bharat said, referring to casting, set design and research ahead of shooting.
Bharat, popularly called Bala, has won acclaim in India for combining with his long-time friend, composer A.R. Rahman, to make novel video versions of patriotic songs, including the Indian national anthem “Jana Gana Mana.”
Rahman, who uses world music themes and digital technologies to create innovative sounds that appeal to youngsters, is also collaborating with British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber on a new musical.